Rule's Obsession (The House of Rule 1)

Her heart pounding an erratic rhythm, she straightened her spine and walked inside the glass doors.

****

Damian called 'enter' and glanced up as his secretary hovered just inside his doorway. "What exactly was it about no interruptions that you failed to understand?" He attempted to control the impatience in his tone but knew that he hadn't managed it.

She flinched and he felt a small sliver of guilt. He'd been out of sorts for a few weeks and didn't know what the hell was wrong with him. "I'm sorry, sir, but the situation seems a bit out of the ordinary."

"What exactly, seems out of the ordinary?"

"There's a woman here to see you--"

"How is that out of the ordinary?" Damian spit the words out. One of the reasons he'd given precise instructions was the amount of work he had scheduled and the random women who occasionally showed up at his office who attempted to stop him from accomplishing it.

"She has a card with your personal cell phone number, and she's . . . different."

Damian's throat closed up and a tight coil of sexual tension consumed him. "What's her name?" he managed to ask, fighting his arousal at just the thought of the little witch coming to his office. No need to bust a fuse, Rule, it won't be her.

"Angela Ross."

Damian felt his temperature skyrocket. "Send her in." His abdominal muscles tightened. "And no interruptions while she's here. Understand? I don't care if the President of the United States calls. I don't care if the building catches fire. No interruptions."

"Yes, sir." His secretary turned with visible relief and Damian stood up and walked around to the front of his desk, waiting for the little witch with ill-concealed impatience.

****

Angie followed Damian's secretary across what seemed like miles of plush carpet and walked into the office when indicated. She was still in a state of shock; she'd found out in the reception area that he didn't merely work in the downtown high-rise, he owned the building.

She heard the door snap closed behind her, and with her heart catching, she faltered just inside the large room. Her gaze was caught and held by dark eyes as he leaned against a desk of solid mahogany while standing completely still, obviously awaiting her arrival. His eyes were both sharp and hooded, his body held in a pose of relaxation that seemed inconsistent with the almost tangible electricity that radiated from him in waves.

Her pulse pounding, her footsteps stalled completely. Before she could get a word out, he pushed off the desk and began to track her across the office, his muscles corded and his eyes reflecting a sheen of purpose. The space between them narrowed rapidly as his eyes fell to her throat and then scanned her body quickly before lifting to her face again.

Any semblance of a smile dissolved as his expression hardened imperceptibly; a raw sizzle filled the air as his brooding features reflected a harsh, atavistic hunger that almost brought Angie to her knees as he stood not six inches away in all his tall, masculine glory.

He stood almost indolently for the beat of three seconds before reaching out and seizing her with a dominant force that gave her not an ounce of choice in the matter. He mumbled two words, "Thank fuck," in a guttural rasp that, had she realized it, contained an evocative foreshadowing of his future intent where she was concerned.

Chapter Four

The oxygen froze in Angie's lungs as she felt, with some annoyance at herself, his short pursuit closing around her as her blood sizzled with a desperate need to give in to him. He was too good-looking, too compelling, too commanding for her to keep refusing him. She'd already been through the arguments in her head; she wouldn't be able to come up with the necessary willpower to continue to deny what they both wanted. It was a heated debate she'd been having internally for days and days: Stay away from him. No. He's bad for you. I don't care. You might get hurt. I'll take the chance.

Her mind was in a convoluted frenzy as she stood frozen within his embrace. With the fingers of both hands wrapped around her upper arms, he jerked her forward until her upper torso clashed against the hard planes of his stomach. Immediate, potent awareness hit her in an arousal of need so powerful that she could barely breathe. His mouth swooped down to hers, and as she tried to stand upright, he propelled her backward until her spine was flattened against the door.

One brawny hand released her, and she heard the sibilant hiss of the lock being turned behind her. A delicious shudder of anticipation heated her blood. This was not what she had come here for. She looked up into fevered brown eyes staring down at her and felt seared by his potent magnetism. Her heartbeat hammering in her ears, she couldn't tell if the pulse she felt pumping came from his chest or hers. Her reaction to him was so swift and violent that she almost couldn't believe it. Certainly nothing in her past experience had come even remotely close to the overwhelming way that he made her feel.